Building Our Broadband Future

The Internet overflows with information services, content and applications that currently involve some 42,000 networks. An intricate host of different commercial transit and peering arrangements shape the Internet as we know it today.

Broadband is critical infrastructure, vital for national competitiveness in the modern global economy. The role of broadband for promoting economic growth, productivity and trade is undisputed and it is increasingly clear that no country can do without broadband infrastructure. Although the networks are not themselves public goods, the information, knowledge and education that can be provided via broadband services are commodities with potentially global reach. Broadband is disrupting and transforming how healthcare and education are delivered in developed and developing countries alike, and promises to improve people’s lives and livelihoods and accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This year’s Strategic Dialogue at the World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum 2013 will sketch tantalizing visions of how the Internet might evolve, and debate all the associated opportunities and risks. The Strategic Dialogue offers perspectives from top industry leaders and policy pioneers for building our broadband future, and explores some of the challenges and tentative predictions for realizing that future.